Should Nuts Get Banned on Flights

An online poll is asking whether nuts should be banned on flights after a 3 year old suffered a severe allergic reaction.

The discussion is getting lively, after a poll was posted onto the This Morning website asking whether nuts should be banned on all flights.

The survey comes following the story of 3 year old Marcus Daley, who suffered a severe anaphylaxis reaction on a Singapore flight, when a passenger opened a packet of peanuts. Fortunately he recovered after being given his anti-allergy drugs which his parents carry with them.

Whilst major airlines such as Qantas, Air New Zealand and British Airways do not sell nuts on flights, currently there is no ban. Singapore Airlines, who the family were flying with, responded to the incident by suspending the service of nuts for the rest of the flight. However replied in answer to a customer’s comment on its Facebook page, “We do not have any control over passengers consuming their own snacks or meals on board, which may contain nuts or their derivatives.”

At the time of writing, results were strongly in favour of the ban, with 77% agreeing that they should be banned from all flights.

It was clear from the comments that not everyone was in agreement with a full ban. Julie Knight stated, “With an allergy as bad as that I as a parent would probably have assessed the risk of going in a plane would be far too high for my child’s allergy...kids come before holidays.”

Whilst Linda Schofield-Flynn argued, “This is simply outrageous if someone has a severe allergy like this then find other means of travel! Not fair having to spoil it for others.”

There were others that wondered where the lines would be drawn, once airlines began banning nuts on flights. “Not at all,” disagreed Emma Louise Shepherd-Lang, “if you ban nuts due to allergies then people would argue for other things to be banned due to allergies and before you know it you will have to endure flights long/short with no food or drink at all.”

Understandably, parents of children with nut allergies were strongly in favour of the ban. Carrie Donald posted, “Yes! My 5 year old has a peanut allergy and it’s a constant worry, especially when flying. “

Emily Luckett mirrored many others by declaring, “Someone’s Life is ALWAYS more important than another person eating peanuts.”

So what do you think? Would you be happy for a full on ban, or do you feel you have the right to eat nuts whenever and wherever you want?